Volume Four, "Knowledge is Power," had officially come to an end. Because it had been interwoven with Princess's visit to Tobesk, this volume had turned out to be unexpectedly long. I won't guarantee how long the next volume will be, but I guarantee there will be no filler—it will all be story. The theme of the next volume is "Earth."
The final scene of Volume One had been Shade and Doctor walking side by side down the street with their backs to a burning building, Shade looking back while Doctor lowered his head. The final scene of Volume Two had looked from a Steam Epoch street toward a second-floor window; amid the thin fog, Shade gazed into the distance while Doctor watched Shade. The final scene of Volume Three had been on a rainy morning, with Shade and Doctor facing away from the camera, holding umbrellas as they looked at a gravestone in the rain. The final scene of Volume Four had been beneath a snowy night sky, with Shade and Doctor standing on the outer edge of the clock tower's dial, watching the city in the snow—one holding the railing, the other with his arms folded across his chest.
The adventures in Huntington and the Pantanal Great Swamp had come to a temporary end, and Tobesk's story would also have to wait for its next climax. In the next volume, Shade would once again venture deep into the Kassenric United Kingdom, where a grand banquet awaited him.
There was no need to repeat the matter of the number of female leads; the author had it under control. As for the stories of the current four-person group, they had all unfolded after Luvia's secret had begun to be revealed. The year had moved from 1853 into 1854, and Shade had